Have you noticed that some businesses seem to do well no matter what the economic conditions? What do they know or do that others don’t? My observations have been they are consistently committed to marketing and advertising regardless of the economic situation. The renowned advertising guru Ogilvy said it best when he cited American Press studies in his book Ogilvy on Advertising, showing select companies over the last 6 recessions that had cut their marketing budget and suffered lowered sales and net income for several years after. All well and good you say, but given that business is off and I don’t have any money for advertising, what do you suggest?
Glad you asked. There are indeed some very inexpensive and downright FREE ways to advertise your business when marketing dollars are in short supply. Here are a few to consider.
Make Your Business Card a Roving Billboard
I once heard the story of a Detroit car salesman who many considered one of the world’s greatest salesmen. He frequently went to Detroit Lions football games.
Even though he could afford more expensive seats he chose to sit in the upper deck, and whenever the Lions scored he would throw business cards off the top deck onto the expensive seats below that offered a discount on a new car that was only good the following day.
This is the number one most important strategy in developing inexpensive ways to market your business:
1. Be Creative - A golf instructor at a local Country Club might hand out business cards at his son’s softball game that say “First Lesson Free with This Card.” A pet store owner might give out business cards that offer a free goldfish, or 10% off a purchase over $100. No matter what your type of business, there is a creative way to get your business cards into the hands of buyers. If you can think of these creative ways before your competition does, you are one step ahead and you will see the increase in business.
2. Remember the 1 to 1 Ratio - The 1 to 1 ratio is the easiest formula you’ll ever need to know. If you talk to someone for more than one minute, they should have one of your business cards in their hand. That is the 1 to 1 ratio. Basically that means that you need to find a way to talk about what you do, and get your business card in their hand within the first minute of the conversation.
Think of it as your “elevator speech”. This prospect will be getting off the elevator soon, so you have a short time to get that business card into their hand.
3. Make Them Keepers - Once you have your business card in the hand of your potential prospects, what is going to make them keep it? Why does someone want your business card? If you cannot answer that easily, maybe it’s time to think about a new business card design.
Does your business card have valuable information on it? By valuable I mean a map, discount, calendar, measurements, charts or anything relevant to your industry? It can always contain a discount for services or products offered to first-time buyers. People tend to keep cards that offer them a freebie or discount even if they don‘t have an immediate need. If your card doesn’t contain some reason for prospects to save it, you may want to think about adding a value feature to your business card.
4. Leave Them Where You Spend Your Money - Last week I had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and sitting on the counter I saw about 30 cards for a car salesman sitting in a plastic business card holder. I asked the girl at the counter why they were there and she said “He said he was going to leave them for customers.” This is just one example of somewhere you could leave your business cards. Other places include barber or beauty shops, medical offices including dentists, family medicine, chiropractors and hospitals.These places are prime territory!
Remember to ask if they mind, and tell them how much you appreciate it.
5. Ask For An opinion - “Can I ask you a quick question? What do you think of my new business card design?” Then you hand them a business card. No matter what they say, now they have your business card. When they try to hand it back, tell them you had thousands printed, and they can have that one. Thank them for their time and tell them if they ever need what you sell or promote, your contact information is on the card.
If you were able to implement just one of these five strategies every day, you would have more business than you could handle!
Creative Online Marketing
You can also do some terrific no-cost advertising on the World Wide Web and it won’t cost you a dime! However nothing adds credibility to your business (no matter what it is) than a professional website, and they are easier and cheaper to put up than you might imagine (and if you don’t think you need a website because all your business is “local”, we provide a coaching segment on our site you will not want to miss).
1. Post a Free Classifieds Ad on Craigslist.org - Craig’s List is ranked the 41st biggest website in the world (by alexa.com). What this means is that millions of people visit the site every month; that is, millions of potential clients. So if you’re a lawyer, a financial consultant, an insurance broker, a real estate broker, a contractor, or if you sell anything at all there is a category for you to post a free classified ad. Classified ads posted on craigslist.org stay there for 45 days, so you only need to post once every month and a half. But even better is that these classified ads find their way into Google search results. So, even people who are not specifically searching for your product or service on the actual Craig’s List site may be coming across your ad through search engines.
2. Create a Free Profile on Trade-Pals.com - TradePals is a directory of business professionals, entrepreneurs, sales people and tradespeople across the U.S. and Canada. It is categorized by city and business category. The website provides sales leads to its members. Basically, you create a profile and place it in the proper city and category. So let’s say that you are an engineering consultant in Miami. You create a profile and place it in the engineering category in that city. If someone from Miami is searching for an engineering consultant and sees your profile, they can contact you by filling in a contact form and you will be notified by email that someone wants to do business with you. TradePals allows you to post a photo of yourself. Take advantage of this option as profiles with photos are viewed more often.
3. Create a Free Profile on MySpace.com - Create your profile and join in on the discussions in some of the business groups on that website. MySpace is populated mostly by teens and younger adults, so the audience may not be your target market, but there are some mature people using the site too so it’s worth a shot. The good thing is that this website is ranked #28 in the world (by alexa.com), so a lot of people find their way to this site.
4. Create a Free Profile on Ziggs.com - Ziggs allows for a comprehensive profile and also places it into categories. But instead of a directory style approach it uses a search option. For example, you can search a keyword “lawyer” in New York, and you’ll be shown all the results of lawyers in New York who have created a profile.
5. Create a Profile in Business Discussion Forums and Join in on the Discussions - By adding your two cents to these discussions, people will see you as an expert in your given field. Include your business phone number or e-mail address in your profile so that people who want to contact you can easily do so. Two of the best online forums that I have found are small-business-forum.com and smallbizgeeks.com.
These five suggestions can get your name out there as a business professional. Together, these websites receive millions of visitors a day. Each of these visitors is a potential client. Until you’re able to build your own website, take advantage of websites that are already there for you to use. In addition to these, there are dozens of other websites that offer free advertising, from press release websites like pr.com, to business networking websites like linkedin.com. See what works best for you, and use the services they offer. So while you are cold-calling and prospecting in the traditional sense, these websites will be working for you and advertising your services or products 24 hours a day.
Here are four more tips to grow your business in a tough economy:
- Be Persistent! There is an absolute direct correlation between the amount of effort you put into marketing and the results you garner.
- Rifle Shot Your Marketing! Pick a niche and learn it better than any other business on the planet. When you can talk the language of your customers, you earn their trust and their business.
- Ask For Help From The People You Know. Send cards, letters and e-mail, and make phone contact with everyone you know: church friends, your dry cleaner, your postman, your doctor. You simply never know where a seed planted will germinate into a new client.
- STAY POSITIVE! There is such a tendency to buy into the gloom and doom and create a defeatist attitude. After all, we’re in a recession…things are supposed to be bad. If you think you can or not, you’re right!
All my best wishes for growing your business to levels you never thought possible. And remember, It’s not what you know that makes you good. It’s what you’re about to learn that will make you great!
To your phenominal success, Anita
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Anita Kramer, Certified Business Success Coach
Jessica says:
July 8th, 2008 at 6:28 am
Thanks for information and the links. It was helpful.
GENETTA says:
July 9th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Hello. I have new restaurant in Panama, Central America. The restaurant is an outdoor cafe style restaurant and people love it. The problem is I am finding myself not haveing enough customers. My advertising is poor and I am the sole owner of the restaurant. I do need help before I fold; I do not want to see that happen. The restaurant is only 18 months old.
Thanks, Anita